5 research-backed secrets for managing your time

Source: Business Insider

This is what happens to your brain and body when you check your phone before bed

Source: Business Insider

What have i done to my brain nerves all these years?

Why I rather use GrabTaxi than Uber in Malaysia

This morning, I was excited to find out about a new app, GrabTaxi, pioneered by a Malaysian, Anthony Tan (son of the owner for Tan Chong Motors).

With Uber peer-to-peer transportation getting popular worldwide, it is proud to see that a new Malaysia start-up could provide an alternative to local people in Southeast Asia.

Here are the factors I consider when grabbing a taxi in Malaysia:

1. Safety
Would you share a ride with a stranger in Kuala Lumpur, where the crime rate is increasing? Any stranger could become an Uber driver, and prey for their victim. Not me. I rather call a taxi driver, who is under regulation and makes a living from providing mobile transportation.
 
2. Price
I doubt the price would be much higher than the conventional taxi service. In order to compete with Uber or Easy Taxi, I am sure GrabTaxi would figure out a way to offer competitive pricing. Moreover, it just received an investment of $250m funding from Japan's Softbank, which boosts public confidence on the company.

3. Speed of Arrival
To be honest, I am not very punctual person. So, having to fetch a taxi in less time is also high priority to me. In the 1990s, I had to 'wait and see' by the roadside, hopefully a taxi would show up in a less crowded Wangsa Maju residential area. With the app, I could easily see the closest taxi around me.

4. Driver's rating
This is a necessary feature. Most consumers tend to buy the products with customers' ratings on online shopping sites (Amazon.com or shop.com).

5. Type of car
It does not matter to me what type of car I will be riding. Most importantly, inside the car has to clean.

Michigan Tech is one of 50 most underrated Colleges in USA

Source: BusinessInsider

To uncover the most underrated colleges in America, we compared US News' rankings of the best universities and national liberal arts colleges in the country with PayScale's 2013-2014 College Salary Report, which ranks colleges and universities based on their graduates' mid-career salaries.

BusinessInsider.com specifically looked for schools that had relatively low rankings on the US News list but high mid-career salaries.

My alma mater, Michigan Technological University, is ranked #15 out of 50.

US News rank: 116

PayScale rank: 83

Michigan Tech grads have the 10th-highest starting salary in the country among public universities, and an average mid-career salary of $94,700. The Houghton, Michigan, school specializes in STEM fields of study, and it has a 92% job, grad school, and military placement rate for undergrads within six months of graduation.

Office Stretches To Do At Your Desk

Source: Business Insider

Lego: What kind of parents are you? American or European?

Many children worldwide received Lego set as their Christmas gift for 2014, as you can see from your friends' Facebook posts.

Well, my very young children (2 and 5) also received a Lego set from their uncle.

According to Lego's Future Lab leader Anne Flemmert-Jensen, American parents don’t like play experiences where they have to step in and help their kids a lot. They want their kids to be able to play by themselves."

On the other hands, she added, "We see among European parents, it’s okay to sit on the floor and spend time with the kids."

So, what kind of parents do you think you are?

As for me, I am more like an American parent. Guess what? We are missing couple pieces already without me supervising them. 

Sometimes, I have to be like an European parent because of my daughter's persistent demand, "Daddy, play with me, play with me!"

Source: Business Insider

柯文哲：臺北的願景

2014年中，在Facebook上，我常常會看到台灣朋友轉載有關柯文哲的報導。一開始我並沒有留意，直到有一次我的好朋友Nemo發柯文哲的照片給我，叫我看看以後我年老時的模樣。

我看了看，不知道柯教授哪一面像我，倒覺得柯文哲教授有點像我的父親。
(不同的是我父親有雙眼皮！)

我父親告訴我，有一次，在臺北市長選舉以前，他在騎樓行走時，被一個老婦人抓著衣服說：“柯先生，柯先生！”。

Anyway, 最令我感興趣的事是有關柯文哲成為臺北市長的傳奇故事。

根據維基百科，

柯文哲（1959年8月6日－）是臺灣外科醫師與政治人物，同時為現任臺北市市長。出生於新竹市，從臺大醫學系畢業後踏入醫界，曾擔任臺大醫院急診部醫師、臺大醫院創傷醫學部主任、臺大醫學院臺大醫學院教授等職，專長為外傷、外科重症醫學、急救、器官移植 、葉克膜（ECMO）、人工器官等，為臺灣器官標準移植程序的建立者，也是首位將葉克膜技術引進臺灣的醫師。因其職業而綽號柯P、KP（「P」指教授之英譯「Professor」，為臺大醫學院內的習慣稱謂）。在2006年後開始在媒體曝光而知名，之後以無黨籍身份參選2014年臺北市市長選舉，並以「在野大聯盟」為號召，當選臺北市第15任直轄市以來市長，成為臺北市改制直轄市後首任無黨籍市長。

最近，我看了柯P在競選時對台北願景的視頻，開始了解他的思維，不像一般政客的陳腔濫調，而是大膽講真話的人民代言人。

在2014年12月25日就任那天，柯P簡要提出六大願景 (就職演說只有6分鐘！)：

政治改革不是一件容易的事情，願柯P成功！